The Kingdom Of Shivas Irons

Michael Murphy's Golf in the Kingdom is one of the bestselling golf books of all time and has been hailed as "a golf classic if any exists in our day" (John Updike) and "a masterpiece on the mysticism of golf" (San Francisco Chronicle). Golf in the Kingdom introduced Shivas Irons, the mysterious golf pro and philosopher with whom Murphy played a mythic round of golf on Scotland's Burningbush links, a round that profoundly altered his game--and his vision. The Kingdom of Shivas Irons is the enchanting story of Murphy's return to Scotland in search of Shivas Irons and his wisdom about golf and human potential. Murphy's quest takes him from the mystical golf courses of Scotland, across the world to the first Russian Open Golf Championship, and finally to Pebble Beach on the California Coast. The result is a delightful exploration of the inner game of golf and a provocative inquiry into our remarkable possibilities for growth and transformation.

A spiritual journey, a lush travelogue, a parable of sports and philosophy—John Updike called this unique novel “a golf classic if any exists in our day.” When an American traveler on his way to India stops to play a round on one of the most beautiful and legendary golf courses in Scotland, he doesn’t know that his game—and his life—are about to change forever. He is introduced to Shivas Irons, a mysterious golf pro whose sublime insights stick with him long after the eighteenth hole. From the first swing of the Scotsman’s club, he realizes he is in for a most extraordinary day. By turns comic, existential, and semiautobiographical, Michael Murphy’s tale traces the arc of twenty-four hours, from a round of golf on the Links of Burningbush to a night fueled by whiskey, wisdom, and wandering—even a sighting of Seamus MacDuff, the holy man who haunts the hole they call Lucifer’s Rug. “Murphy’s book is going to alter many visions,” The New York Times Book Review declared. More than an unforgettable approach to one of the world’s most popular sports, Golf in the Kingdom is a meditation on the power of a game to transform the self.

Golf is a Zen sport. If you leave the present moment, you will likely feel the immediate karmic consequences like a hammer hitting your thumb. In The Mindful Golfer: How to Lower Your Handicap While Raising Your Consciousness, Stephen Altschuler helps you nail it all right—hard and true and into another level of surrender, satisfaction, and, self-awareness. He uses the tools of Zen to raise the game several notches on the ladder of consciousness. The book discusses the state of the game, some of its more illustrious players, its glories, and its challenges. The author covers some of his own struggles with golf, and some moments of achievement, if only fleeting. His book is a reflective look at golf today, emphasizing the mental and spiritual elements of the game. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

DIVDIVA spiritual thriller by the bestselling author of Golf in the Kingdom /divDIV/divDIVAs publisher, writer, and researcher, Darwin Fall has gathered a wide range of evidence for human nature’s supernormal capacities—but his photographs and case stories can only take him so far. He needs living proof. So when a mysterious man named Jacob Atabet disturbs morning mass at a Catholic church in his neighborhood, Fall thinks he may have found just what he’s looking for, setting in motion a quest that leads him to push beyond the limits of his own imagination./divDIV /divDIVDefying categorization, Michael Murphy artfully maneuvers through the shoals of fiction, science, self-knowledge, and invention./div/div

DIVDIVMichael Murphy, bestselling author of Golf in the Kingdom, explains the power of athletics to transform the body, mind, and spirit/divDIV /divDIVAthletes and coaches often say they feel “in the zone” while participating in sports or other endeavors, and Esalen Institute cofounder Michael Murphy carefully documents this phenomenon in one of the most comprehensive works of its kind. Murphy and coauthor Rhea A. White categorize twenty types of extraordinary athletic feats, exalted states of consciousness, and altered perceptions that, they say, evoke the richness of a spiritual practice./divDIV /divDIVThis wide-ranging compendium includes insights from amateur, Olympic, and professional athletes, such as Michael Jordan, Mario Andretti, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Schwarzenegger./div /div

In the Depression year of 1931, on the golf links at Krewe Island off Savannah's windswept shore, two legends of the game—Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen—meet for a mesmerizing thirty-six-hole showdown. Another golfer will also compete—a troubled local war hero, once a champion, who comes with his mentor and caddie, the mysterious Bagger Vance. It is Vance, sage and charismatic, who will ultimately guide the match, for he holds the secret of the Authentic Swing. And he alone can show his protege the way back to glory. Written in the spirit of Golf in the Kingdom and The Natural, The Legend of Bagger Vance reveals the true nature of the game in a story that is unforgettable.

This limited-edition, leatherbound volume is signed by the author--a must-have for true golf fanatics everywhere. Originally published in 1972, Michael Murphy's "Golf in the Kingdom" has become one of the bestselling golf books of all time and has been hailed as "a golf classic if any exists in our day" (John Updike) and "a masterpiece on the mysticism of golf" ("San Francisco Chronicle"). "Golf in the Kingdom" introduced Shivas Irons, the golf pro and philosopher with whom Murphy played a mythic round of golf on Scotland's Burningbush links, a round that profoundly altered his game and vision. Shivas's insights about competition, life, and "true gravity," all instilled in him by his elusive mentor Seamus MacDuff, captured the imaginations and the devoted following of students of the inner game of golf. "The Kingdom of Shivas Irons" is the enchanting story of Murphy's return to Scotland to investigate reports of further visitations by Shivas Irons and to answer questions about him and MacDuff that have haunted Murphy since his original trip to Burningbush some thirty-one years before. Murphy and his companion, Buck Hannigan, a skeptical physicist fascinated by Shivas's connections to metanormal events, embark on a magical quest for Irons and MacDuff--and their wisdom about golf and human potential. From the mystical golf course surrounding MacDuff's estate in Scotland, across the world to the first Russian Open Golf Championship, and finally to Pebble Beach on the California Coast, "The Kingdom of Shivas Irons" is a delightful exploration of the deep truths about the game of golf and a provocative inquiry into our remarkable possibilities for growth and transformation.

This is a story about a strange encounter on the golf course with someone who, on the face of it, knows nothing about golf but who ends up teaching the author about the inner game and questioning his approach to golf and to life itself. It's not just about golf or sport, nor about improvement or progress or how to do something. If anything, it points to a way of living effortlessly that is free and harmonious, that is, to the essence of mindfulness and non-duality. Each of the nineteen chapters contains a lesson which the author palpably resists for the first few holes. But, gradually he comes to realise the profound truth in the teachings of the stranger and begins to understand the radical perspective of no one playing.